[NHDOE-ETNews] Hobbs White Paper Released on Digital & Media Literacy

[Higgins, Cathy]

I am excited to tell you of a new white paper by Renee Hobbs, just
released as part of an Aspen Institute commissioned series on "Informing
Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age." Those who
attended the Classroom Technology Mini-grant Celebration Event in
Meredith a few years ago will recall that Renee gave an excellent
keynote about media literacy and copyright. 

Here is a short excerpt from the white paper:

"The time to bring digital and media literacy into the mainstream of
American communities is now. People need the ability to access, analyze
and engage in critical thinking about the array of messages they receive
and send in order to make informed decisions about the everyday issues
they face regarding health, work, politics and leisure. ... In an age of
information overload, people need to allocate the scarce resource of
human attention to quality, high-value messages that have relevance to
their lives...."

"Today full participation in contemporary culture requires not just
consuming messages, but also creating and sharing them. To fulfill the
promise of digital citizenship, Americans must acquire multimedia
communication skills that include the ability to compose messages using
language, graphic design, images, and sound, and know how to use these
skills to engage in the civic life of their communities. These
competencies must be developed in formal educational settings,
especially in K-12 and higher education, as well as informal settings.
The inclusion of digital and media literacy in formal education can be a
bridge across digital divides and cultural enclaves, a way to energize
learners and make connections across subject areas, and a means for
providing more equal opportunities in digital environments."

You can read a longer article in Converge Magazine about this and also
download the full report:
http://www.convergemag.com/policy/10-Steps-to-Strengthen-Digital-and-Med
ia-Literacy.html



Regards,

Cathy Higgins, Ed.D.
State Educational Technology Director
Office of Educational Technology
New Hampshire Department of Education
Email: chiggins at ed.state.nh.us
Phone: 603.271.2453
Web: http://www.nheon.org/oet/ and
http://education.nh.gov/instruction/ed_tech
<http://education.nh.gov/instruction/ed_tech/index.htm>